A Child's Tragedy
by FluffDucklings
Summary: It's all too easy to gain the trust of a small child. And Francis, master of the culinary arts and certified pedophile, knows that. Rated for death and rape.


**A/N: **So a few weeks ago, I was on an America's Most Wanted high, watching the latest episodes as they came out, and I saw one story (I don't recall most of it now) that ended with a poor baby (around nine years old, I think) girl in a trash bag under a mattress in an old apartment complex. She had been raped and such and I was crying by the end of the segment. Needless to say, I stopped watching the show.

But after that, I couldn't stop thinking about children being kidnapped and then most likely having that as the outcome: raped and left for trash. And what it must do to the family and friends of the victims.

In no way, shape or form, do I condone kidnapping.

I don't own Hetalia or America's Most Wanted. Remember, children are our future and should be treated as such.

* * *

><p>Matthew Williams was a kind and fair child – with hair as bright as the Sun. His brother, Alfred Williams, was kind and fair, but not as so as his brother.<p>

The two boys played at the playground often – including as many others as they could in their games.

But Matthew had a problem.

For all his fairness and gentleness, he was too kind and a bit naïve because Matthew had a nasty habit of trying to include everyone. _Everyone._ Not just other children, but adults as well.

He was taught to include everyone, though Matthew always took things literally and seriously and that's why he included adults he did not know.

One day, while Alfred rounded up children to play a giant game of freeze-tag, Matthew spotted a lonely looking man, sitting on a bench, probably watching his own children play while he sat all alone.

Matthew timidly walked up to the man with blond hair and asked, "D-Do you wanna play with me, Mister?"

The man jolted and snapped his head towards Matthew, shocked.

A _child_ had approached him? Him? Francis Bonnefoy? Master of the Culinary Arts and Certified Pedophile? Eh. He'll go with it.

"Ah, why yes, I'd love to play with you, young _Monsieur._" His smile was sickeningly sweet.

"O-Oh thank you! My brother i-is making a game so-"

"Brother? Who?" Francis thought a second and added, "And what is your name, little _Monsieur_?"

"M-Matthew, Mister…" he trailed off.

"Kirkland. Arthur Kirkland, but you can call me Arthur."

Matthew smiled wide. "A-Alright, Arthur. And my brother's name is Alfred."

Francis nodded noncommittally. "Before we play, could you help me with something?"

Matthew nodded warily.

"I've got some tennis shoes in my van, but I always lose them. They would be much more comfortable to run in, no?"

"I could help you find them."

Francis smiled warmly and led Matthew, with a hand on his back, to his van.

"They might be under something…"

Matthew waited for Francis to open the double doors for the van before climbing in, setting to work finding the missing tennis shoes.

But, just as he'd got to the back, Francis slammed the doors shut, hurried to the driver's seat and punched the gas.

Matthew fell over from the sudden velocity and his stomach dropped. _Something's wrong_, he thought.

"Where are we going, Mister Arthur?" Matthew asked as he held onto… _something_ for balance. His stomach was fluttery and his heart was thundering in his ears and his palms were sweating profusely, making holding onto this… _thing_ very hard!

Francis laughed wickedly. An unsettling sound all around. "I just remembered my shoes were left at my house this morning."

"O-Oh… Are we getting them?"

Francis glanced in his rear-view mirror and nodded, placing a set of black sunglasses on his nose.

**=0=0=0=**

Alfred had won the freeze-tag game and he loudly proclaimed it to everyone.

"Mom! I won! I won!" Alfred high-fived his mother - who kept glancing from side to side.

"That's great, Alfie, but have you seen your brother?"

"Mattie? Wasn't he playing? I swear I tagged him!" Alfred looked around and shrugged. "Maybe he's on the jungle gym?"

Madeline nodded. "Let's go find him."

Alfred and Madeline the playground two times over, soon getting help from the other mothers.

"H-He's blond and has v-violet eyes a-a-and, oh God!" Madeline rubbed at her red, tearful face.

"Calm down, Maddie. We'll find Matthew," Gertrude said, rubbing her friends back. She looked at the three other women surrounding the woeful mother. "He looks like Al – they're twins. Except Matthew's hair is longer. Could you possibly have seen him?"

"I bet Mattie ran away," Alfred said, dejectedly, scuffing the woodchips at his feet.

The blond boy next to him shook his head. "Matthew isn't that kind of person. Someone might have taken him."

Alfred's head snapped up. "Don't say that," he hissed, eyes slit. "Matthew wouldn't let anyone take him, Ludwig."

Ludwig held his hands up. "I was just listing a possibility."

"Well… it's not helping."

"W-What if someone took him! Oh God, oh God, oh God." Madeline was rocked in Gertrude's arms as she cried. "P-Please don't let that be!"

"Shh, honey. It's alright. We'll find him."

The police were called after another hour of searching.

"No one's said anything about seeing a boy fitting the description, ma'am, but we'll keep asking around. And, you said you didn't see anyone suspicious? Not anyone lurking around?"

Madeline rubbed her eyes and thought. "I-I did see a man when we first came. H-He was sitting… over there, on that bench. But, I think he was just sitting… He kept watching the playground so I…" He heart started pounding more, her skin clamming. "I-I thought he was just watching his own children. Oh God."

"Could you describe him?" The man pulled out a small notebook and pen.

"H-He had blond hair, about here," she lifted her hand to her shoulder, "and he was wearing a dark blue pea-coat. I-I didn't really think much of him so I didn't r-really take a minute to examine him…" She should have. That's what she told herself. She shouldn't have ignored that bad feeling in her stomach and watched that man, just to be sure. "H-He was giving off weird vibes."

Gertrude rubbed Madeline's back. "Come on, Maddie. That's enough. Thank you, Officer."

"No. Thank you for calling. We'll search more and in the meantime, take her home. She could use a cup of tea."

Gertrude did that. She drove Madeline and the children to her home and fixed up some hot tea, sending Alfred and Ludwig up to Ludwig's room for the time being.

"Don't worry. The police'll find Matthew and everything will be fine." Gertrude sat back down at the table and rubbed her friend's shoulder. "Besides, you don't look awesome with those tears."

Madeline sniffled. "H-How could I lose him?"

Gertrude raised an eyebrow and hummed in question.

"I'm a horrible mother. I l-lost my child." Madeline's eyes darted around the table as if in search. But of what?

"You're not a bad mother-"

"I lost Mattie. I lost my baby! Gertrude, I lost my child!" The cup spilled over, covering the polished wood.

"Maddie? Shut up."

"I…"

"You didn't lose Mattie. He slipped from your sight for a few minutes and got lost. It happens. That doesn't make you a bad mother." Gertrude looked Madeline in the eyes. "And I bet by tomorrow, at the latest, Matthew'll be back home."

**=0=0=0=**

The Matthew Williams Missing Child Case continued for the next year, but it was ultimately cut cold with lack of evidence to lead the investigation.

But Madeline continued with her own search, setting up a website for Matthew and asking for any tips on where he might be or who could have taken him. She described the man from the bench as best she could to a police artist and had a picture fairly similar on the website.

With the help of Gertrude, she asked and searched through almost every media there was to find anything on the whereabouts of Matthew.

Unfortunately, nothing ever came up and Madeline was kept in the dark.

On the other end, Alfred was worrying as much as his mother. And maybe just a bit more. Sure, Matthew may be Madeline's son, but Matthew was Alfred's twin. They shared a womb for nine and a half months. They were born at the same time. They shared a nearly identical face! Alfred missed his sweet, little brother.

The week after Matthew disappeared, he tried to keep his mind off of it and every time he rolled over in his now too-big-bed, he pretended Matthew was at Gertrude's house with Ludwig. But even that wasn't enough to save his troubled thoughts.

Who could have taken Matthew? Why would Matthew even talk to a stranger? Had they just snatched him up? Did they lure him in with the promise of candy? Mattie didn't even like candy! Unless, did they promise him pancakes?

The year after Matthew disappeared Alfred cried and cried and cried in his room the moment he woke up to a half-empty bed. He cried into his pillow and then he snuck into his mother's bed and cried with her. And the whole day they wallowed in their pity and cried for their missing brother and son.

**=0=0=0=**

Three years after that, on Alfred's- the twin's eleventh birthday, Madeline was given a report by the officer that first took the description of that man on the bench four years ago. He handed her the file and then, looking deeply into her eyes, her sole, he said, "I'm very sorry for your lose."

Madeline turned cold. She shook her head in disbelief, afraid to open the file and read what could be inside. But then she ripped it open, nearly tearing the manila folder as she did so, though she really didn't care.

She almost dropped the papers. The first was a photograph. There was a trash bag filled with… _something_ (God _please_, oh please don't let it be my sweet Matthew!) partially covered by a dirty mattress in what probably was a city dump. "Oh God."

The next paper showed the same scene with the bag ripped open, a small, pale hand sticking out.

The officer caught Madeline as she fell, the files flying everywhere.

**=0=0=0=**

Alfred was told the news and he demanded he see the pictures. He didn't care what his mother or Gertrude or Ludwig said. He wanted to see his brother, dammit! (Madeline ignored his language for the time being.)

Madeline hesitantly handed eleven-year old Alfred the photographs after glancing at Gertrude for assurance.

He looked them over, not saying anything, just gasping or flinching back from each one as he flipped through them.

Then he cried as he glimpsed the last picture. He dropped it on the table, as if it had caught fire and burned him. He slapped a hand over his mouth and cried again.

The photograph was of the trash bag, pulled out from under the dingy mattress. Matthew's body, pale and… _dead_ laid out next to it. Little yellow tags were placed around his body at every cut and… his nether regions.

Even though Alfred was still young, still just a baby himself, he understood what those tags… down there meant.

He looked up at his mother with terror in his eyes. She was crying again.

"I-I'm so sorry, Alfie," she whispered, reaching for him and taking him into her arms, wrapping him tightly, not wanting to let go. "I'm so, so very sorry."

**=0=0=0=**

The Matthew Williams Missing Child Case picked up for a bit after the discovery of his body. DNA was taken from his body for examination and in the mean time, Madeline requested for the case to be aired on _America's Most Wanted_ television show and website.

And it was.

Matthew's special segment was aired a few weeks after Madeline requested for it. She and Alfred were on the set with John Walsh. He told them of his own story of his son – how he was sent his head in a bag. How he felt when it happened. How he felt about those "scumbags" who would hurt others.

He sympathized with them.

And they sympathized with him.

The segment was short, but after it was aired, Madeline felt a wave of relief wash over her. Lots of people watched the show. Right? Hundreds, thousands. They would all tune into the latest episode, listen about the story of Matthew and someone – a woman in some far-off state, maybe, or even a child – would call in with information and the person who killed her baby would be taken in and punished justly.

**=0=0=0=**

The funeral was afterwards. The police didn't need to keep the body any longer for evidence and they returned Matthew a few weeks before what would have been his twelfth birthday.

Madeline and Alfred contacted their friends and what family they knew to come and attend.

Gertrude and Ludwig (and Feliciano, a boy Ludwig had met and was good at cheering others up) stayed at Madeline's for a few days before the funeral to help her and Alfred get by.

Madeline's parents couldn't attend. They were in Canada, in a nursing home. And really, she couldn't bring herself to tell them. It might have been cruel, but she felt it would be best for them to die thinking both their grandchildren were doing well.

Her sister, Amelia and her husband, Kiku, flew in from their home in Japan (Kiku insisted they live there) and she held her sister for a long while, both crying and consoling each other.

Their uncles, Tino and Berwald (along with their son, Peter), came.

Then Katrina, Kat, and Katyusha came and everyone was together. They were a small bunch – the odd-ball group of people – but they all cared deeply and when the funeral began, they all wept for Matthew, saying a silent prayer in the church for his murderer's capture.

**=0=0=0=**

The casket was white and short – not unlike an adult's. In the graveyard, the coffin sat on a table before the hole. Madeline and Alfred stood in front of it, readying themselves for the lowering.

Just before a group of men from the church grabbed onto the silver railing on the side, Alfred slipped a black sharpie marker out of his sleeve and quickly wrote, "I love you Mattie, Alfred" and then he wrote the date.

Madeline placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it lightly.

**=0=0=0=**

Francis was caught a month exactly after the funeral.

Apparently he couldn't help himself and was caught in the act of trying to steal away a little girl, but her father acted quickly and stopped him, involving the police immediately.

Vash Zwingli was not going to let Francis get away with almost stealing his Lilli.

And he learned later, in the police station as he bounced the giggling girl on his knee, Francis was wanted on a rape-murder charge for a small boy half-way across the country in Texas.

He asked to have the mother of that child's number.

**=0=0=0=**

Before Vash could call Madeline, the police force did. They informed her of Francis' capture and that he was being transferred back to their state and was going to put on trial.

"There's no need to worry, Mrs. Williams, the trial won't last long. He's a registered sex offender and he has one too many hits on his card," the man said.

"A-Alright. Thank you. For everything."

"Just rest easy now, ma'am."

**=0=0=0=**

"Hello?"

"_Ja_, is this Mrs. Williams?" The voice on the phone was heavily accented, but it sounded like whoever was talking was trying their hardest to keep it down.

"Y-Yes, may I ask who this is?"

"I am Vash Zwingli. I… I was the one who got that bastard (excuse my language, ma'am) arrested."

Madeline breathed out happily. "T-Thank you, sir. Thank you very much." Her eyes glossed over.

"_N-Nein_, I just did what was right. He was trying to take Lilli so I stopped him. I-"

"Lilli?"

"My daughter. But, she is alright now. Nothing happened."

"I'm g-glad to hear that. Um… Thank you again, Mr. Zwingli."

Vash nodded, then smacking his head, said, "I hope you can rest easier now, ma'am."


End file.
